Sport
20 May, 2021
Young trainer’s prominence recognised
EMERGING harness trainer Paddy Lee admits the receival of an industry award named after his great uncle is a feather in the cap of his short training career.
EMERGING harness trainer Paddy Lee admits the receival of an industry award named after his great uncle is a feather in the cap of his short training career.
The 23 year-old was recently announced as the winner of the 2020 Victorian Square Trotters Association (VTSA) Dick Lee Rising Star award.
Dick Lee is a life member of the VTSA, Victorian Harness Racing Hall of Fame member and won the 2018 Gordon Rothacker Medal following a distinguished harness racing career spent as a trainer,
owner, driver, breeder, administrator and volunteer.
The award recognises an outstanding industry participant under the age of 25, with Dick on hand to make the presentation to Paddy at the Terang Harness Racing Club earlier this month.
“It’s a massive honour in my cap,” Paddy said.
“With Dick being my uncle it’s an award I’ll cherish for a long time.
“I know with it hanging on the wall it’ll be something I can look back on when my career is done and be very proud that I was able to achieve something like that.”
Paddy and Dick’s relationship is similar to that of a student and teacher, with the younger Lee seeking as much knowledge as possible from his elder statesman.
“Dick’s been good helping me learn to keep a level head in the game because it is quite challenging,” Paddy said.
“He’s good with that and with (different) situations of the game.
“He’s been very helpful and showed me around a lot and he’s got plenty of experience that he’s passed on, even just helping with the trotting gait.
“He trained some very good trotters and he’s passed on some of that knowledge to me as well as other aspects so he’s been very helpful that way.”
Paddy said Dick’s influence also extended to the sales ring.
“He’s helped me out the last four or five years at the sales looking through yearlings and other training aspects of horses,” he said.
“It’s just small things that have helped a horse get into a better position from where it was.
“I’m also better because of the things he has shown me along the way.”
Paddy said the award was also an added confidence boost that his training career was on the right track.
The Ecklin-based trainer has notched up 92 wins from 340 starters in his short career.
“When you get an award like this you always know you’re making footsteps in the right direction but it’s more so because of what Dick’s done in the game,” Paddy said.
“It definitely makes you walk a bit taller I guess.”